Tag: brain health

In a new study done by scientists at Harvard Medical School researchers looked at the impact on stress in relation to physical health. Their research revealed that individuals who deal with chronic stress are impacted in several different ways. Not only can stress make you more irritable and tired continuously it also has an impact on our ability to focus.

Chronic stress interferes with our physical health in many ways. Other than being constantly tired and unable to focus it seems to exacerbate a wide range of health conditions such as diabetes, gastrointestinal problems and heart disease.

How Stress Impacts Hormones

Cortisol is a hormone that the body uses to regulate blood sugar control metabolism, reduce inflammation, and assist with memory. Cortisol has many different uses in the body and is produced when we experience stressful conditions. When cortisol is produced in excess it can cause many different symptoms. Some of these symptoms include depression, anxiety, irritability, cognitive difficulties, headache, sphere fatigue and muscle weakness.

Scientists at Harvard discovered that individuals with high levels of chronic stress also had high levels of blood cortisol. They also showed poorer memory in individuals with high levels of stress and high levels of cortisol when compared to peers with regular cortisol levels. Significantly, impaired memory existed in these people even prior to apparent signs of dementia.

They classified individuals as having high, middle, or low levels of cortisol, where middle levels represented the regular cortisol level series of 10.8– 15.8 micrograms per deciliter.

These outcomes stayed constant even after the researchers had adjusted for appropriate customizing elements, such as age, sex, smoking cigarettes routine, and body mass index (BMI).

At the start of the research study, all the volunteers offered blood samples. The group gathered them in the early morning, after a proper fasting duration, so that the blood test outcomes would be precise.

Researchers asked each individual to go through a mental test. They likewise examined each individual’s memory and focusing capabilities. For the function of the research study, they examined these capabilities once again after a typical duration of 8 years.

Particularly, the scientists were interested in determining the individuals’ levels of blood cortisol, which is a hormonal agent launched primarily in reaction to stress. After examining cortisol levels, the private investigators divided the individuals into groups according to their outcomes.

Researchers discovered that those in the high cortisol producing high stress related group showed signs of memory loss and brain shrinkage.

An Interesting Find

Interestingly one study coming from Japan published in PubMed showed that supplementation with a combination of Lysine and Arginine was able to normalize stress response in humans. The two supplements are usually not used together because they compete for absorption within the body. However in this study they seemed to have beneficial results when used together.